How does the ESC advance the progress of Cuenca universities?
At the country level, the quality of Higher Education has improved. The universities have twice as many fourth-level teachers, and have multiplied the academic publications by four, so the Cuenca universities have also improved.
In the specific case of co-financed universities, what is the most important development?
Currently there is a formula for co-financing that calculates the number of students, the relevance of the career, the quality of teaching and the level of research. Previously, resources were given only according to the number of students. This formula was agreed upon through the signing of an agreement with the universities and motivates them to improve in order to obtain greater resources.
The University of Azuay did not sign the agreement. Does that affect your financing?
No way. The law is for everyone and in the case of the UDA there are improvements in the relevance, number of fourth level teachers ... Therefore only changes the financing mechanism.
In the case of the University of Cuenca, in category A, what is expected to improve its quality?
In this case, the aim is to democratize the offer of postgraduate courses at a national level with the creation of a fund that was previously exclusive to the Simon Bolivar Andean University and FLACSO. This fund aims to reduce from 23.000 dollars to 5.000 dollars the cost of fourth level careers in all public universities, including the University of Cuenca.
How does the accreditation of the Catholic University of Cuenca advance?
I am pleased that the Catholic University shows indicators that it has improved. We have seen the self-assessment and there are scores that point to accreditation. (JPM) (I)
Basin.